Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-05-05

cuddled down against bis breast rs II he was
the last man ON earth and she never meant
to let him go.
Truly she never did. Was ho not Robert
Edgerly, he- repentant, returning loyerl
The other mln was her brother Harry, now
a well grown youth Of lS They had come
10 look for ller. There were HarTy's strong
and willing arms for her to fling herself into,
and Harry was the dearest brother she had
Yet she ran past him and flung herself fran
ticaIly upon q young man she had quarTeled
with. and who was no kin to her at all. Truly,
girls are queer.
at sight of them Rip disappeared ltwas
as If he had dropped through the ground
Robert and Harry searched all about. That
night the neighborhood men secured the
woods for him. They never found him.
Sam was alive but unconscious when they
came to him. He was old, black and ignorant,
and timid and weak, yet he was as true
hero, true q knight Of chivalry as ever
breathed He gave his life to succor fair
lady in distress
The faithful soul never came to his senses
His head struck stone as he fell under the
blow from Rips fist. He breathed on un-
consciously for two hours. Then-another
link was broken that bound the Carstones to
their vanished childhood. He was buried in
the CaIstone graveyard, not far from the
unaster to whose children he had been so
faithful Many is the time Sam had said:
"I allus wanted big funeral 1t is 'specta-
BILE like, as if a man was genlman OF conse-
ouence. When die it'd bo comfort to me
to know de fust families all turned out and
helped lay de old man away"
If he could have known it, Sam had his
wish to his hearts content The first families
turned out in mass and followed him to his
grave. Could he have known it, he would
have considered his funeral credit to the
Carstone family.
II was some days before Brownie got back
her spirits. She was pale and weak, and
easily startled. And now the Enghshman
proved how gentle and devoted he could be.
He showed beyond doubt that he both could
and did see whether a lady was comfortable
or not. When the reighbors gathered at
SANS funeral, in the kindly country fashion,
Edgerly took his place with the Carstones
beside Brownie, as if he had right there
Then afterward, when Brownie was begin
ming to be herself again, he staid later than
usual one evening. When he went away no
boldly kissed hel. good night before all the
| folk!
Brownie blushed and pouted slightly and
| drew back.
"Oh, come now," said he. "When young
ladv throws herself into mans arms in the
presence of third party, you know
Brownie was suppressed.
Then he went away for few days.
@What have you done with your forget-me-
not ring, Brownie" he asked when he came
back
"It's conc" she answered mournfully. u
wore it all the same and never took it OIL.
| But / was robbed of it that day-that
| day"-
ooh, well, don't mind about it.'
| Next there was silence. Robert broke it,
| with remark as follows, to witt:
Il have been away from England year
and q half. If 1 don't get out of this hea-
thenish country soon, I shall forget how civ
ilized people eat"
| Brownie looked up.
"rm going back in January, going home
| to stay this time"
| Brownie gave start.
"You'll break your heart about me, l
know, if leave you here"
eDon't you tank you are little mean to
say that!" she asked
$50 suppose shal have to take you over
to England with me"
Which he did. She made him as sweet, as
true wife, yea, and as fair and bright, as
ever graced a stately home.
For Shirley. the faithful, the untiring, her
/ ifa wac
never to end for her. She worked and
thought for them all, and for everybody,
without stopping or breathing space. Be
tween herself and Brownies husband tie OF
friendship grew that became only stronger
| as he was older. She had not a brother by
| blood whose devotion to her was as enthu-
siastic as Roberts Ones familiaTs and klr
are often the ones who are the most blind te
the best that is in him 1t was surely SO witt
Shirley, who was used to make so little ol
herself.
She had not the leisure time to begin hel
poem as yet. Not yet.
The power her father and the master dis
cerned in her had its forced development IL
other ways than they had thought The
mother and younger children remained still
to be worked for. She and they had still tt
live from hand to mouth.
So newspaper woman she was and re
manned. But she degraded her calling to ne
mean or spiteful or shallow ends Longfel
low tells how the mechanic Albrecht Durer
with his stylus, sang the nobility OF labor t
the rich and stupid Nurembergers till hi
startled them from their bourgeoise content
Shirley sang the same song with her pen. L
was a pen that cut through the transien
down to the eternal good and truth that ar
the only abiding realities. She sang tn
worth Of wise work, the ladyhood and gentle
manhood that are above and greater than tn
accident of occupation, or of wealth and pov
erty. To be sincere, to be gentle and jus
and helpful to others, to spend time in learn
ING only the things that are worth knowing
this was the golden song of Shirley's pen.
So she kept her life high and valiant.
She was not unhappy in those years Th
busy are never wholly miserable. Ii onl.
she could have poured out her thoughts ii
the marvellous poem that had hovered in he
brain SO long she could have quite put the olc
sorrows aside. AS the years went on, sh
could even have come at last to regard q
comedy the tragedy of her life Toiling witt
enthusiasm at the work one has chosen
greather than happiness or riches-yea
greater than love itself
AS it was, though, her life was SO hard, S
different from oil she had planned or dreame
of, twenty years before. Robert Edgerl
came faithfully over the water to see he
every year or two, sometimes with Brownie
sometimes without Once, too, the charmin
old father came, and his visit was like a
oasis in her desert Of toll.
One winter, when Shirley went to Wast
ington for The Morning Herald, Robel